Gamelyn

(3 syl., g hard). The youngest of the three sons of Sir
Johan de Boundys. On his death-bed the old knight left “five plowes of
land” to each of his two elder sons, and the rest of his property to
Gamelyn. The eldest took charge of the boy, but entreated him
shamefully; and when Gamelyn, in his manhood, demanded of him his
heritage, the elder brother exclaimed, “Stand still, gadelyng, and hold
thy peace!” “I am no gadelyng,” retorted the proud young spirit; “but
the lawful son of a lady and true knight.” At this the elder brother
sent his servants to chastise the youngling, but Gamelyn drove them off
with “a pestel.” At a wrestling-match held in the neighbourhood, young
Gamelyn threw the champion, and carried off the prize ram; but on reaching home found the door shut against him. He at once
kicked down the door, and threw the porter into a well. The elder
brother, by a manuvre, contrived to bind the young scapegrace to a
tree, and left him two days without food; but Adam, the spencer,
unloosed him, and Gamelyn fell upon a party of ecclesiastics who had
come to dine with his brother, “sprinkling holy water on the guests
with his stout oaken cudgel.” The sheriff now sent to take Gamelyn and
Adam into custody; but they fled into the woods and came upon a party
of foresters sitting at meat. The captain gave them welcome, and in
time Gamelyn rose to be

“king of the outlaws.” His brother, being now sheriff, would have
put him to death, but Gamelyn constituted himself a lynch judge, and
hanged his brother. After this the king appointed him chief ranger, and
he married. This tale is the foundation of Lodge's novel, called Euphue's Golden Legacy, and the novel furnished Shakespeare with
the plot of As You Like It.